Rachel Blackcroft is a girl in sixth-form at the turn of the new millennium. Always slightly on the outside of the inner circle, she begins to notice changes in her contemporaries' behaviour as this new era dawns. Over the course of the next few years, she establishes her place in the world and her future starts to look promising... ...then suddenly a seismic shift takes place, seemingly overnight. But what is driving this shift and how will it come to affect humanity's mental health and interaction with one another as the new century unfolds? And, more importantly, what can be done, if anything, to push back the tide of its influence? Do we just have to accept it, or is there another way of living - can there be something else?